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Home > First Year > New Zealand Says Parents Can't Name Babies Lucifer or Anal

New Zealand Says Parents Can't Name Babies Lucifer or Anal

by Karen de Wilde on May 02, 2013

Karen de Wilde

About the Author

Karen de Wilde is a freelance writer who loves to write about health, beauty, food, entertainment, and life in general. Her work has appeared on several websites, including Daily Glow, eHow, LiveStrong, and Screen Junkies. She is excitedly preparing for the birth of her first baby and is very excited about being a new mom.

About the Blog

WhatToExpect.com supports Word of Mom as a place to share stories and highlight the many perspectives and experiences of pregnancy and parenting. However, the opinions expressed in this section are those of individual writers and do not reflect the views of Heidi Murkoff of the What to Expect brand.

In New Zealand, parents can't just name their babies whatever they want. They have to first run it by the government, which has the power to ban the name. New Zealand's Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages recently shared a list of names that it has turned down over the years with CNN. The list includes "Lucifer," "Mafia No Fear" and "Anal." Yes, some parent in New Zealand wanted to name their baby "Anal!"

According to the agency's rules, names should not "cause offense to a reasonable person, not be unreasonably long and should not resemble an official title and rank."

So it's no surprise that a name like "Lucifer," which six sets of parents have tried to name their child in the past 12 years, was turned down. "Messiah," "Chris,t" and "4Real" were also rejected. Unpronounceable names like '"*" (the asterisk) and '"."(period) were also nixed.

While it's easy to see why these names were rejected, some people may wonder what's wrong with the four most rejected names since 2001, which are "Justice," "King," "Princess," and "Prince." Especially considering the names that have gone through, which includes "Violence" and "Number 16 Bus Shelter."

How is "Violence" okay and not "Justice???" It seems that sometimes, questionable names slip under the radar.

New Zealand isn't the only place to regulate what parents can name their children. Sweden also has a naming law, which it has used to reject "Superman," "Metallica," and "Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116."

While some may say that government shouldn't be telling parents what they can and can't name their children, it's clear from these examples that some parents need to be told what they can't name their children. A parent who wants his or her child to go through life with the name "Anal" is definitely not thinking straight!

What name do you think a child should never be named with? Tell us in the comments below!